Our fast-paced lives predispose us to a myriad of health conditions such as chronic fatigue, anxiety, and poor sleep, just to name a few.
With our jam-packed schedules chasing career goals, managing finances, nurturing our relationships, and still having to create time for our hobbies, we are often a heartbeat away from a debilitating health condition.
As a result, we have turned to health-boosting activities and supplements.
People have practiced yoga since time immemorial, but its biological basis hasn't changed. Yoga can be a long-term remedy because it enables you to self-activate your coping skills to curb various health conditions before they worsen.
Add in CBD, and you got yourself a potent combination that can help you maintain good health and overall wellness. Indeed, the benefits of yoga are well documented, but a twin combo of yoga and CBD looks even more promising.
Can you do yoga and CBD?
Nothing stops you from combining yoga and CBD. If anything, a few drops of CBD oil before you begin yoga can help you get into the right frame of mind to meditate and practice.
Due to CBD’s anti-inflammatory and healing properties, a CBD-yoga combination may help with aching joints, sore muscles, and inflammation, in addition to fostering calmer vibes.
So, if you've been wondering whether CBD and yoga is a good partnership, by all means, yes!
CBD physical benefits
CBD is a compound derived from the cannabis and hemp plant. Unlike its alter-ego tetrahydrocannabinol (THC), CBD does not induce the 'high' most people associate with marijuana. It is, however, associated with a host of health benefits that many yogis will find appealing.
Helps posture and poses
CBD is an anti-inflammatory agent that interacts with your body's immune system's T-cells to promote lymphocyte production reduction. Lymphocytes are responsible for swelling and redness around an injured area. This way, CBD may help reduce or alleviate any pain that might hinder you from doing your yoga poses correctly.
Pain relief
If you lead an active lifestyle, you know that injuries often happen during strenuous exercise. Sometimes, over-exertion can leave you nursing intense muscle pains and overall body discomfort for days.
A growing body of evidence shows that CBD may be an alternative remedy to opioid painkillers. It may help you manage pain, especially chronic pain.
Yoga can also be rigorous to the point where you get musculoskeletal injuries. Adding CBD to your yoga routine may help you manage muscle soreness and pain much better while giving you a calmer yoga experience.
Try our Premium CBD Drops to soothe your sore muscles and drive away the pain. Made from premium hemp CBD and organic MCT oil, this product will help calm your mind and soothe your body.
For ongoing pain, put 20mg of this CBD oil under your tongue before starting yoga and an equivalent dose when going to bed in the evening. Of course, space out your intakes, possibly after every 8-12 hours.
Decreases inflammation
Inflammation is a naturally occurring phenomenon that signals the immune system that something is wrong with the body. The hormonal responses due to inflammation help the affected area recover much faster.
When inflammation becomes painful, it can stop you from living your best life or even practicing yoga.
CBD has been shown to reduce inflammation around a painful area. However, don't confuse CBD with painkillers; they don't eliminate the inflammation; they just make the discomfort manageable.
Faster muscle recovery
Yoga can be physically demanding to the extent of causing muscle injury. The tense muscles around the injured area often make the pain unbearable.
As such, a muscle relaxer may help reduce muscle tension. Most athletes with muscle injuries often use strong muscle relaxants that do more harm than good due to their side effects.
The beauty of using CBD for faster muscle recovery is that it induces similar effects as the GABA receptors (regulators of muscle relaxation) but with no side effects.
Moreover, studies suggest that using cannabis as a supportive agent may help counter the addictive characteristic of benzodiazepine. Nonetheless, consult a medical professional before using CBD and benzodiazepine because this combination may be fatal.
Besides easing muscle pains, CBD may also help relax muscles and prevent delayed onset muscle soreness. When you have an injury, you are advised to sleep a lot to give your body time to heal.
However, falling and remaining asleep becomes an uphill task when in pain. Most body restoration processes like repairing damaged proteins and stem cell differentiation into new fibers happen during sleep.
Sleep deprivation means that these body repair processes will take longer than they should. It also leads to reduced insulin production, thus affecting growth. Lower insulin levels in the body affect the production of new cells translating into the slower recovery of an injured area.
CBD will help you fall asleep faster and longer, hence faster muscle recovery.
CBD mental benefits
Here are the mental benefits you get from CBD.
Increased mood and focus
According to a 2014 study, CBD is a wake-promoting agent. This means it may keep your brain awake and focused on whatever you are doing.
People who struggle with mood disorders or general mood swings are encouraged to take CBD due to its relationship with dopamine and serotonin. By acting on the nervous system (serotonin receptors), CBD may help to improve one's focus, mood, and energy levels.
CBD might also affect dopamine levels in the body. Dopamine is a critical neurotransmitter that carries signals between brain cells. When dopamine levels go down, you become less motivated ditto your concentration.
Conversely, CBD is believed to help improve one's focus by triggering the receptors in the endocannabinoid system to balance dopamine levels.
Our Premium CBD Gummies are specially formulated to help you relax and move through each day with ease. The gummies allow you to focus on the things that matter during the day (your yoga sessions, for example) by relieving daily stressors. In the evening, they help you calmly unwind and fall asleep quicker and deeper. Bring out the best version of you with FOCL Premium CBD Gummies.
Relief from anxiety and depression
With our hectic schedules and constant life worries, it's a no-brainer most people are anxious and depressed. Excessive mental and physical stress increases the production of the stress hormone cortisol.
To reduce the production of this hormone, incorporateing CBD supplements into your daily routine might help. CBD is believed to alter the brain's action pathways, thus reducing the secretion of cortisol.
Combining yoga and CBD might help in relieving anxiety and depression fast.
Relief from over-thinking builds a yoga-ready mindset
Overthinking is symptomatic of underlying psychological issues like depression, anxiety, etc. It is exhausting because your brain never shuts down. It also affects your overall well-being.
The good news is that CBD might help calm you.
One advantage of CBD is it gives you the desired healing without making you feel sedated. It is believed to impact the brain's transmitters to reduce hyperactivity, thus reducing overthinking. Besides reducing hyperactivity, it may also relax your mind and help you sleep much better.
As mentioned earlier, yoga involves shutting out outside noise and refocusing your energies inward. When you start taking CBD, you can build a yoga mindset allowing you to achieve positivity and mindfulness that can have a lasting impact on your wellbeing.
This is because CBD is believed to reduce hyperactivity in your brain, thus creating the perfect mental state for yoga. Over time and with consistent use, your body eventually learns to transition smoothly when it's time for yoga.
Compliments meditation practices
Meditation, like yoga, is an ancient practice that is still popular today. Meditating once in a while helps you forge a deeper connection between your body and mind.
CBD makes meditation easier because it stabilizes your mood by helping reduce anxiety and stress. Adding CBD to your daily meditation routine may help you overcome the psychological barriers preventing you from getting into that beneficial meditative state.
We've already established that the connection between your body and mind is through the nervous system. Signals sent via neural pathways affect your feelings both physically and mentally.
It's been shown that CBD interacts with receptors in the endocannabinoid system to affect your wellbeing.
How do you incorporate CBD into your meditation practices?
A few of these fan-favorite Full Spectrum CBD Gummies before you start meditating will get you into the mood faster because it chills your mind and body. As you wait for the effects to kick in, prepare your meditation area, making sure it's clean and free from clutter.
Set a timer to alert you when the specific time you usually meditate reaches. Have a notebook nearby in case you need to record your thoughts.
Get into a comfortable position; you can use blankets or pillows to help you stay in that position for more extended periods. If you are in any pain, apply some topical CBD to the affected area to relieve tension and discomfort.
Sit, observe your thoughts and breathe. Don't give any audience to whatever ideas you have; just let them pass. After you are done with meditation, note down your thoughts in your journal. If you don't have a journal, just analyze how you feel before and after meditating.
Improved mind-body connection
A body-mind connection is key to a fulfilled, holistic life. Most people do yoga for better awareness, perception, and mind-to-body connection. Also, yoga helps your body be more flexible, adaptable, and energetic.
You may consider incorporating CBD supplements into your daily routine for a better body-mind connection. CBD is believed to help enhance your body's neural pathways by acting on your brain. This might improve your focus and make your yoga sessions better.
When meditating through yoga, you effectively shut off external distractions and focus on your inner self. So, incorporating CBD into your daily yoga routine could improve your concentration levels.
Furthermore, CBD is linked to increased dopamine and serotonin levels, which boosts your productivity. Suffice to say, CBD and yoga are a powerful combination.
How to get started
So without any further ado, here is how to get started with CBD.
CBD oil and yoga
If you enjoy yoga and feel amazing after a session, imagine doubling the feeling. Yoga benefits can be enhanced by incorporating CBD oil into your yoga sessions.
Try taking CBD oil 15-30 minutes before starting the yoga session. If you are a beginner, CBD drops are the best to start with as they are not overwhelming and are not as potent as CBD capsules or tinctures.
If convenience is a high priority for you, CBD oil taken sublingually is your best bet. The effects kick in much faster, letting you get down to business sooner. You can also infuse CBD oil into your tea before and after yoga to calm your nerves.
CBD yoga dosage
There are numerous ways to incorporate CBD into your yoga practice. Topicals are great if you tend to get sore or stiff after your yoga sessions.
However, if you want an overall mental and physical impact, go with CBD ingestibles like oils, tinctures, capsules, or gummies.
We recommend starting with a 10-15 milligram dose per 10 lbs. of body weight. Increase the dosage gradually until you achieve your desired effects. Oils and tinctures act fast (within 10-15 minutes), while soft gels are slower (35-40 minutes).
With CBD oil, we recommend starting with a dose of 0.5-1mL. Oils and tinctures are often taken sublingually.
With CBD, people react differently according to a host of factors. So, it’s better to always start with lower doses and up it gradually. It’s always a great idea to talk to your doctor before incorporating CBD with yoga.
Consult a cannabis expert as they are best suited to guide you on such matters.
Final thoughts
With medical marijuana increasingly becoming legal in many places, accessing CBD is a lot easier today. Just so you know, CBD does not make you' high.'
Instead, it may deliver a gently relaxing and calming vibe that makes a lot of difference for people with anxiety, stress, pain, and sleeping problems.
CBD and yoga make a perfect combination, so give it a try.
